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Sustainable Clubbing

Like to go clubbing? You better have deep pockets. An exuberant night of partying costs as much as watching 120 days of television, washing 75 loads of laundry or 125 hours of vacuuming. And yet most club goers spend at least one night a week in the club.

Also, getting ready to go out isn’t exactly easy. Taking a shower, blow drying your hair, finding the right outfit, checking it all in the mirror – not everything costs money, but it all requires a lot of time & energy. When you finally arrive at the club, the doorman demands at least ten Euros for the stamp on the back of your hand.

The bartender gets almost the same amount for your first drink (in a plastic cup) and mostly it doesn’t end with one drink. On the way home you’re lucky if the cab ride costs less than ten euros.

The real cost is not on the party-goer, but on the environment.

A visit to the disco emits an average of 1.9 kilograms of CO2 per party animal. Altogether, around 5,500 clubs across Germany generate each around 90 tonnes of CO2 per year. This electricity consumption corresponds roughly to that of Slovenia, or in other words, a single club covers the electricity consumption of 45 three-person households.

But it’s not necessary to have a heavy conscience just because you need to dance off all the stress that we built up over the week with all of our studying & working. The only thing is that we should make sure that we’re not relaxing when it comes to saving the environment. And for that, there are a number of energy savings innovations coming our way.

The Electric Dancefloor

The current-generating dance floor is a great example of amazing innovations. The “Energy Dance Floor” is made up of small plates, which can move slightly with every step – from the energy released, electricity is generated, which is not only used to illuminate the dance floor, but also to power up the DJ.

But there are also many small things that can be done better.

For example, clubs could install more energy saving lamps & LEDs, or serve drinks in glasses, as opposed to disposable plastic cups. In addition, they could use dishes & silverware from renewable raw materials such as bamboo, bio plastic, chocolate or metal. It’s really simple.

And after the after party, an early morning walk home not only saves money & energy, but is also a good for the hangover. So, everything is not so bad. You’ll find us in the club.